The Office
The Office is the area in which the player spends the entirety of the game. Most elements of each area serve as a UI, and interacting with the various objects has different effects. Consistent UI elements are: * The Clock This is located in every tab. Pressing it will speed up time until a reporter encounters something, a laboratory experiment finishes, an event occurs, or a reporter returns. * The Phone The Phone shows the player the various Contact Offers '''available to them. Contacts are close friends/relatives of your reporters, who will allow you to gain items or services at a discounted price (or offer unique services otherwise unavailable). These offers are given at the beginning of each new chapter, and can be accessed at any time. Office The OFFICE tab provides a view of an office room, populated with a desk, a map, a clock, a grid chart, and various photos of people pinned up on the wall. The Map This can be viewed more easily under the MAP tab (see below) Retainers These people appear as pinned up photos to the right of the map. Clicking on them provides more detail on the individual retainer. Each Retainer is in possession of two items, which the player can utitlise if they hire them to help out one of their reporters. The option to hire a retainer only becomes available once a reporter comes across some sort of obstacle, though it is useful to note down the potential uses of retainers before then. Only Retainers with items relevant to an obstacle may be hired, and they will charge extra for any items they use during their encounter. The Desk Clicking each drawer will have a different effect. The '''top leftmost drawer allows the player to view past issues of the Daily Chthonicle. The bottom leftmost drawer brings up the game menu. The rightmost top drawer brings up a prompt "My car keys are here, but it's too early to go home now..." The rightmost bottom drawer brings up the manual booklet. The Chart This displays each Reporter's story - the events they have been through in their investigations - in the format of a case file. Each day at 2am and 2pm, the best three of these are automatically published in an issue. Contacts These are displayed in the form of photographs pinned to the wall beneath the chart. Contacts are close friends/relatives of your reporters, who offer certain deals (see above), be hired in encounters, or be involved in events which indispose of them and the reporter whom they're associated with. Hiring Each Contact is in possession of two items, and if they are in possession of one item relevant to the encounter a reporter is having, they can be hired. Contacts come at a much cheaper rate than Retainers, with a 50% discount if they are being hired to aid the reporter they are connected to. Map The Map The map is located in the centre of the screen on this tab, offering a closer and easier view of the various cards on the map. Each card shows a location, and recent disturbing events that have occured there. When viewing a card, one can click a reporter to assign them to this case. A photograph of the reporter currently assigned to an area can be seen beneath the card, allowing for easier knowledge of who is in each area, and what they are doing. The Lab Located on the left, pressing the shelves transports the player to the LAB tab. The Filing Cabinets Located in the middle right of the screen, pressing these transports the player to the CASE tab. Lab The player is presented with a large and a small shelf, each capable of holding various vials. Typically the Reagents are located on the left, larger shelf, and Forensic samples are located on the smaller right shelf, however pressing the right shelf will reverse this, allowing the player to decide which format they prefer. The Filing Cabinets Located in the middle of the screen, pressing these transports the player to the MAP tab. Case The player is presented with three long diagonal columns. On these, details of a larger case shall be presented under a label (Case File #number) until finally enough details are learned that the case can be closed. Once three cases have been closed, a Special Edition of the Daily Chthonicle can be published. The Filing Cabinets Located in the middle of the screen, pressing these transports the player to the MAP tab.